


with a smile like hers

by bananannabeth



Series: Angst War (vs. Suneater (Gryn)) [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-10
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-16 15:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9277202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bananannabeth/pseuds/bananannabeth
Summary: The baby will have Jason’s hair and Piper’s eyes. Piper hopes that they have dimples. Jason just hopes they get her smile, and that they’re smarter than him and don’t try to eat any staplers.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Suneater (Gryn)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gryn/gifts).



> written for the angst war dan and i are having over on tumblr.

 

 

Piper squints into the distance and raises a hand to shield her eyes from the mid afternoon sun. “Is that them?” **  
**

Jason sits up beside her, features adorably scrunched as he tries to focus across the rolling green lawns of Central Park. He rearranges his glasses on his nose and says, “Yeah, I think so. But -”

“Oh, they’ve got Ava.” Piper waves, and Annabeth waves back with the hand not holding Percy’s little sister’s.

“Hey, guys, sorry we’re a little late,” Percy says sheepishly as they approach, stopping just at the edge of the picnic rug Jason and Piper have spread out.

Annabeth wipes some loose curls back off her forehead and says, a little breathlessly, “We have a last minute addition to the picnic, hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all!” Piper exclaims, smiling brightly at the seven year old standing before her. “You’re always great fun, aren’t you, Ava?”

Ava smiles, chubby cheeks dimpling, and nods.  
  
“Great!” Percy exclaims, dropping onto the rug and reaching for the crackers and dip they’ve already got out. He just manages to get one in his mouth before Ava plonks herself in his lap and laughs at the muffled noise he makes in protest.

Annabeth sits beside them, somewhat more graceful, and smiles gratefully at Piper.

She doesn’t mind Ava being there, really. She knows that something important must have come up for Sally and Paul to leave her with Annabeth and Percy when they already had plans, and she knows that Ava’s a great kid, anyway. She’s inherited Sally’s temperament and Paul’s curiosity, Percy’s wit and Annabeth’s determination.

And it’s fun, having a kid around. The conversation never stalls, and the enthusiasm with which she throws herself into a game of frisbee with Percy and Jason is endearing.

Piper catches Annabeth watching them with a fond smile and elbows her in the side. “So, when are you having one of your own?” she asks teasingly.

“Gods, no, she is more than enough for now, thanks.” Annabeth scoffs and rolls her eyes. “You and Jason are more likely to be parents before us.”

Of course Jason’s chosen this very moment to come over for a drink of water, and he freezes with the bottle halfway to his lips. Piper knows Annabeth was joking, but she feels a fluttering in her stomach as she looks up at him, silhouetted by the sun, and imagines it - them, with a baby. A family.

She’d be lying if she said this was the first time she’d thought about it. They still visit both Camps every now and then, just to make sure things are running smoothly, and they always end up getting roped into helping with some training exercises or refereeing Capture the Flag. Interacting with the kids gives Piper a unique type of joy, and seeing Jason with them - well, as if she didn’t love him enough already.

So yeah, maybe she’s thought about it before.

Annabeth has gone very still beside Piper, sensing the tension. Percy and Ava are watching from a slight distance, brows creased in confusion.

But all Piper can focus on is Jason’s expression as he kneels down in front of her, blue eyes steady and serious. “Do you…”

Piper nods. “I think so, yeah. Do you?”

Jason nods, slowly at first and then faster, and Piper vaguely registers Annabeth breathe, “Oh my god,” in a shocked whisper beside them before he leans forward and kisses her.

Piper loops her arm around his neck and holds him to her, trying to capture every detail of how he is in this exact moment, because she knows in her gut that this is it, this is a moment they’re going to look back on later when they tell their child stories about themselves.

“Ew,” Ava says, deadpan, as she and Percy rejoin the group.

Jason breaks away, grinning, and Piper can’t stop the laugh that bubbles over her lips.

“What’d we miss?” Percy asks, eyes flitting between the three of them.

Annabeth glances pointedly at Ava, who’s sticking her tongue out at Piper, before looking up at Percy and saying, “Nothing. Just these two being gross. As usual.”

“Gross!” Ava echoes, and Piper laughs again before sticking her tongue out at her in reply.

“Oh, that’s nothing new,” Percy says, picking Ava up around the waist and swinging her upside down over his shoulder.

She squeals in delight and calls out for a laughing Annabeth to save her.

Jason squeezes Piper’s hand, and she thinks that this is going to be fun.

 

* * *

 

 

They’ve never really been the type of couple to plan things out in meticulous detail, and this is no different. They have long discussions about it though, of course, because this is a life changing decision. If they go through with this, there’s no going back.

“I’m ready,” Jason says one night, sitting beside her on their small couch. “I know that this a huge ask, and I know that neither of us really have the best role models, as far as parents go, but I think we can do it, Pipes.”

“I think so, too,” she says softly, running her finger over the scar on his lip. “We’ll just do pretty much the exact opposite of what our parents did and we’ll be set.”

He laughs before he kisses her, and that’s the decision made.

 

* * *

 

 

The next six months are a blur of everyday moments turned into the most intimate of explorations.

Piper catches Jason the minute he walks through the door after work, pressing him up against the wall and loosening his tie just enough for her to use it to lead him into the bedroom. He curls his hand around her hip just as she’s about to drift off to sleep, curving himself over her and waking up every single nerve in her body. She beckons for him to join her in the shower, leaving handprints in the steam on the glass. He stretches her out underneath him on the couch, on the rug on the lounge room floor, on the dining table. She presses hot kisses along his jawline as they collapse back onto the bed, gasping each other’s names.

It should have happened by now.

 

* * *

 

 

The doctor tells them not to worry, says that they’re young and healthy and it should happen naturally in time. He says that stress isn’t conducive, so they need to try their best to relax.

“Right,” Piper says, mentally making a list of all the commitments she’s going to need to cancel if she wants to properly relax. “Stress less, got it.”

Jason is sitting with a straight spine in the chair beside her, expression stern. She reaches across the gap to squeeze his hand where it’s resting on the arm, and he jumps like she’s given him a shock.

The doctor smiles. “If you’re still worried after a few more months, come back.”

Jason slides his card into his wallet and won’t meet Piper’s eye as they leave the clinic.

 

* * *

 

 

“Maybe we should just… stop trying,” she says one morning, shrugging a shoulder.

There’s a clatter as Jason drops his plate behind her. Toast skids across the benchtop, leaving a trail of crumbs behind, and Piper gapes at his hurt expression.

“Not like that!” she hurriedly amends, waving a butter knife at him in alarm. “I don’t mean we should give up, no, that’s not what I - I just meant, like, us deliberately trying to have a baby and it not working is stressing us out, right?”

Jason, still looking a little shell shocked, nods slowly and recovers his runaway toast.

“So what if we just… stop planning it? Let’s stop having sex with the goal of getting pregnant and start having sex just for the sake of it. And if it happens, it happens.”

“Hang on, so you’re saying I still get to have regular sex with you?”

Piper snorts. “As if that was ever going to stop.”

“And you do still want to have a baby.”

“Yes, of course I do.”

The colour returns to Jason’s face. “Okay.”

Piper smiles and takes a bite out of her own toast. “Okay.”

 

* * *

 

 

Piper does everything she can to make sure that Jason is as relaxed as possible. She organises nights out with their friends, runs bubble baths and gives him shoulder massages, snuggles with him on the couch and sits through awful movies just because she knows they’re his favourites.

He still seems agitated, though.

She wanders into the room just as he’s hanging up the phone one day, and he’s so angry he’s literally sparking.

“Hey, are you okay?” she asks, frozen in the doorway as electricity crackles through the room.

The sparks immediately stop as he turns around to face her, but his expression remains stormy. “Fine,” he says lowly, indicating the everything is about as far from fine as it could possibly be.

Piper takes a breath and hedges her bets, keeping her voice measured as she asks, “Who was on the phone?”

“No one,” he says, almost a growl. And then he sighs, lowers his shoulders, and bends down to plant a soft kiss on her cheek. “It was no big deal.”

He’s obviously lying, but she has no idea what to do about it.

 

* * *

 

 

When Annabeth gets a promotion at her architectural firm the whole group go out to celebrate. They do dinner and drinks, reminiscing about their quests and the camps and how they saved the world.

Piper looks over at Jason and marvels at the fact that they’re still alive, still together, after everything they’ve been through.

When they get home she melts into him, softening beneath his touch and losing herself in the sensation of the two of them together, properly, one hundred percent together and so in love that she can’t help but cry out his name like a prayer.

Much, much later, she falls asleep nestled in his arms, thinking that things couldn’t possibly be any more perfect than this.

 

* * *

 

 

A few weeks later, Piper’s in the bathroom, and there are three white sticks arranged in a neat line along the edge of the sink. Three tests, with three positive signs staring back at her.

She lifts her shirt and splays her palm against her stomach, feeling suddenly unprepared. She stays like that for a long time, shaking hand pressed to the brown skin of her belly, mentally listing all the ways her life is about to change.

She thinks she should feel different, but she doesn’t, really. Not yet.

She bows her head and closes her eyes.

“I’m going to protect you,” she promises.

 

* * *

 

 

Jason cries when she tells him. He absolutely bawls, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her feet off the ground, burying his face in her shoulder and sobbing.

“We’re going to parents, Piper! Oh, my gods, I’m going to be a dad!” He pulls back just enough to grin at her, looking awed. “You’re going to be a mom! And I’m going to be a dad!”

Piper laughs and cups his face in her hands, drinking in the sight of him, so overjoyed that she feels she’s going to burst.

Too fidgety to stay cooped up inside, they go for a drive, get some celebratory ice-cream and sit on the hood of the car to eat it.

“You’re going to be a great mom,” Jason says, smiling at her over the top of his cone.

“You’ll be an all right dad,” she replies, dabbing her ice-cream on his lips and then kissing it off.

They’re both smiling the whole time.

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s probably still a bit too early to tell the sex,” the doctor says as she conducts the ultrasound.

“That’s okay, that’s fine,” Jason says quickly, eyes transfixed on the screen. “We don’t care about the sex as long as they’re healthy.”

“Well, they look healthy to me,” the doctor says, pointing to the screen.

And there they are; Their baby, tiny, curled up safely inside Piper, and oh, they’re beautiful.

Piper squeezes Jason’s hand as tears roll down her cheeks. She doesn’t even care that she’s covered in cold goo, because she’s seen their baby, and she feels sure, now, that this is right.

They take the print out and put it on their fridge door, stuck there with a magnet from Camp Half Blood.

“Think it’s time to tell everyone?” Piper asks, turning to Jason with her hands on her hips.

“Yeah,” he nods and opens the drawer where they keep their loose drachmas. “It’s time.”

 

* * *

 

 

After the initial giddy celebrations are over, Annabeth approaches pregnancy like a war, with charts and timelines and diagrams. She and Will go over the technicalities of it with Piper and Jason, stating that it’s important for them to be as mentally and physically prepared as possible.

“So many people do this,” Piper says, trying to wave off their concerns. “We’ll be fine.”

Annabeth chews her thumb nail and says warily, “Not that many demigods have children of their own, Pipes.”

“Not true,” Jason says adamantly. “Look at all the legacies at Camp Jupiter - look at all the families in New Rome!”

“Yeah, but you’re not living in New Rome, are you?” Annabeth counters.

“We might be,” Piper says, before this can escalate. “We’ve thought about it. For, you know, added protection.”

Annabeth opens her mouth, but Percy widens his eyes and she shuts it quickly. “Okay. That’s… good.”

Percy smiles and ropes an arm around Annabeth, kneading her shoulder with one hand. “That’s great, guys. We’re really happy for you.”

Annabeth rolls her eyes but smiles genuinely at his words, and the knot of tension building in Piper’s chest loosens.

“Thanks,” she says, reaching out for their hands. “We’re really happy, too.”

 

* * *

 

 

They get home from shopping one day to find Thalia leaning against their apartment door, quiver of arrows on her back and smile wicked sharp. Piper pauses, letting Jason take the lead.

“Thalia,” he greets, cooler than she was expecting.

Thalia pushes off the door but doesn’t step any closer to them. She almost looks embarrassed. “I heard the news… I wanted to say congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Jason replies, all civility.

Both of them look tense, and Piper feels the hairs on her arms start to stand on end.

Thalia swallows. “I also wanted to say sorry.”

Jason’s posture shifts minutely, and Piper reaches for his arm. She gets a static shock and yelps, and both Grace siblings immediately turn to her.

“Are you okay?” Jason asks, eyes roving over her for signs of injury or distress.

“I’m fine,” she says, shaking her finger. “You just shocked me.”

Jason looks from her hand to his arm, and then to his sister. “Let’s go inside.”

The tension doesn’t dissipate at all when they’re all seated in the lounge, and Piper finally cracks. “All right, what’s going on? What do you have to apologise for?”

Thalia clenches her hands into fists on her knees and looks very much like she wants to look anywhere but directly at the couple sitting across from her, but she forces herself to hold their gaze anyway. “A few months ago, I said some pretty horrible stuff to Jason, and I -”

Piper remembers Jason hanging up, crackling with electricity and anger. Of course it was Thalia on the other end of the line.

Thalia sighs. “I shouldn’t have said what I did. It was stupid, and I’m sorry. I was just… worried about you.”

“Worried about my parenting skills,” Jason says, his tone far from accepting.

“You were literally raised by wolves,” Thalia deadpans.

“Thanks for the concern, but Jason’s going to be a wonderful father,” Piper says, resting her hand on Jason’s knee.

Thalia runs a hand roughly through her hair, pushing her circlet slightly off centre. “I know, I just - It was a bit of a shock, okay? The thought of you guys with a baby, it brought up some bad memories.”

Piper immediately softens, but Jason isn’t as sympathetic.

“I told you we were trying before I told anyone else, for that very reason,” he says. “To give you time to adjust, to make sure you heard it from me before anyone else.”

“I know, and I appreciate it,” Thalia replies. “That’s why I’m here. Because you did the right thing, and I reacted wrong, and you didn’t deserve me lashing out at you like that. I want you to know that I’m here to help in any way I can.”

There’s a pause, and then Jason smiles. “Thank you, Thalia.”

She smiles back, and Piper breathes a sigh of relief. She really didn’t feel like cleaning up after any storms today.

 

* * *

 

 

They lie in bed and talk about the future.

The baby will have Jason’s hair and Piper’s eyes. Piper hopes that they have dimples. Jason just hopes they get her smile, and that they’re smarter than him and don’t try to eat any staplers.

Piper runs her fingers through Jason’s hair as he lies with his face against her stomach.

“Do you think they’ll have powers?” she asks quietly.

He hums thoughtfully. “Probably. I mean, their parents are pretty powerful…” She kicks out as he tickles her side, continuing in a very serious tone, “Heroes of Olympus, in fact….”

“Stop! Stop!” Piper kicks and flails until she’s wriggled half way down the bed and is trapped underneath Jason, bracketed by his arms either side of her head, laughing breathlessly.

He presses his forehead to hers and lets her calm down before he starts all over again.

 

* * *

 

 

They buy a pram and a change table and all the things that new parents need, and everywhere they go everyone congratulates them and comments on how Piper is _positively glowing_.

“It’s a blessing,” she says sarcastically when the third shop assistant of the day says it, because she doesn’t feel like she’s glowing.

She feels like her feet are swollen, like she’s starting to waddle slightly when she walks, like she could devour the local McDonald’s entire supply of cheeseburgers, like she needs to lie down for a very long time and cry over nothing while Jason silently rubs her head - She feels a lot of things, but glowing is not one of them.

Jason laughs and ushers her along before the shop assistant can catch her sarcasm, kneading her shoulders like the well trained boyfriend he is.

 

* * *

 

 

Jason’s taken on extra shifts to try and get as much money saved up as possible, because they both want to be home as much as they can when the baby’s born. Whenever there’s a chance for overtime he volunteers to stay late and help out, so it’s not unusual for Piper to already be asleep when he gets home some nights.

Tonight is no different. She goes to bed well before he gets home, curling up on her side of their bed and hoping that he’s quiet enough not to wake her when he gets back.

Something wakes her up in the middle of the night, but it’s not Jason.

“Jason,” she says frantically, throwing an arm out and blindly searching for him. Her hand finds his shoulder and shakes. “Jason, I’m bleeding.”

She tries not to panic, tries to remain calm and stoic as he helps her out of bed, out of the apartment and into the car, even as Will’s voice yells in her head that this is _wrong, something’s going wrong_!

“You’re gonna be okay, Pipes,” Jason says, but his hands are shaking on the wheel and Will won’t answer his phone and the hospital seems very far away, suddenly. “You’re going to be fine, you’re both going to be okay, I’m gonna make sure of it, okay?”

Piper clutches her stomach and doesn’t say a word.

 

* * *

 

 

“I’m sorry,” the doctor says, toeing the line between genuine sympathy and clinical detachment. “There’s nothing we can do.”

They’ve lost the baby.

The doctor starts talking about statistics, about how this isn’t because of something they’ve done, it just happens, sometimes; about how Piper is young and healthy enough for them to try again, in a few months.

She doesn’t take any of it in. She looks up at Jason, standing with a rigid spine beside her bed, knuckles white where he’s holding her hand. She can’t even feel it.

Piper starts to cry, and then she can’t stop.

 

* * *

 

 

Their apartment seems small and quiet when they get back. Jason helps Piper into the lounge, making sure she’s settled comfortably on the couch before practically sprinting into the kitchen to make her a cup of tea. It’s obvious that he’s trying to act normal, but he’s talking too much to cover up her silence.

Piper sits on the couch with her hands between her knees, staring into space and trying to forget how horribly wrong everything has gone.

She sees Jason pause by the fridge on his way back into the room, eyes drifting to the sonogram still pinned there, and she chokes on a sob. He immediately looks at her, guilt all over his face, and she closes her eyes because she can’t bear to look at him after letting him down like this.

“Piper, hey,” he says softly.

She hears the clink of a teacup being put on the coffee table and then feels his weight settle in beside her on the couch. He wraps his arms around her and she folds herself into his embrace, hands scrunched up in the front of his t-shirt and face buried in his chest as she sobs. He shakes underneath her, crying into her hair, and they both ignore his ringing phone.

She never thought it would be like this.

 

* * *

 

 

That night, when Jason’s finally fallen into an exhausted sleep, Piper slides out of bed and gets into the shower. She turns the water on as hot as she can stand it and sits under the spray, scrubbing at her skin until she feels clean again.

When she’s done she stares at her reflection in the mirror, hands splayed over her stomach, and she whispers, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you.”


End file.
